News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

NEW DELHI: Over the four years since Right to Education Act was
implemented, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights
(NCPCR) has received more than 3,800 complaints of RTE violations. Fewer
than half of them-41.25%-have been resolved. The national commission is
the apex body for monitoring RTE implementation in the country.

Data obtained through an RTI query filed by activist Rashmi Gupta shows
that, while the number of cases coming to the commission has declined
drastically over the years-there were 1,177 in 2010-11 and 174 in
2013-14, it has amassed a massive backlog of cases. Activists believe
decrease in number of cases being reported is because of the slow pace
of resolution. "These figures illustrate that people have lost hope in
the commission leading to a phenomenal decrease in the number of
complaints," Gupta says.

NCPCR chairperson Kushal Singh,
however, says that the decrease in numbers is because most states have
started state-level commissions since 2010.

"Also, as a matter
of policy, we transfer to the state commissions many complaints that are
easier for them to deal with because they are on the spot," she says.
The transferred ones are not counted in the data furnished in the RTI
reply. NCPCR now handles mainly "infrastructure and policy-related
complaints" or complaints of "inter-departmental issues". Individual
complaints are moved to the state commissions.

But the backlog,
concedes Singh, is a problem. "There is definitely a backlog and it's
not acceptable. We are not paying attention to this because, if a
complaint was filed in 2010, the resolution has no validity if it's
coming in 2014," says Singh. There are still 484 open cases from the
2010-11 batch of complaints. "We send the complaint to the state and
sometimes replies are unduly delayed. Depending on their responses,
action is taken. It's not practical to use summons proceedings for every
complaint," she adds.

Delhi Commission for Protection of Child
Rights has a better record-it's closed over 85% cases. Gupta also asked
for information on funds going to the RTE cells of NCPCR and DCPCR. The
funds for NCPCR's RTE cell has increased from Rs 278.76 lakh in
2010-2011 to Rs 653.38 lakh in 2013-2014.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Rahul Gandhi's Amethi worst performer

in RTE norms

LUCKNOW: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi may
be promising employment to youth, but education standards at grassroots
level in his constituency, Amethi, are the worst in Uttar Pradesh. Only
1% schools in Amethi comply with the Right to Education Act (RTE),
lowest in the state, reveals a study conducted by RTE forum.

Countrywide
figures, too, are unimpressive. Only 8% schools have complied with the
RTE norms despite the deadline for its implementation ending about a
year ago.

The
study, based on nine RTE indicators, shows average performance by UP in
comparison to bigger states (in terms of population). In UP, only 7.5%
schools are following RTE norms. Maharashtra, with 20.1% schools, is the
best among the big states followed by Karnataka (18.2%), Tamil Nadu
(17.3%) and Gujarat (17%).

Even
though new classrooms have come up, 59.67% of children study in schools
that still fail to meet the pupil-teacher norms. The mechanism for
redressal of complaints is also weak, says study.

The
RTE Forum says that while the RTE Act mandates that all teachers in the
country are to be trained by 2015, there are still 6.6 lakh untrained
teachers in the country, while five lakh teaching posts are vacant. UP
alone needs 3 lakh teachers - maximum in the country - in schools, Union
ministry of human resource development said. Other states facing acute
shortage of teachers are Bihar (2.60 lakh) and West Bengal (1 lakh).

Forum
convenor Ambarish Rai said, "Irrespective of the party in power, no
state has fully implemented RTE. Starting from north to south, east to
west, the situation is bleak. Be it Gujarat or Maharashtra, UP or
Karnataka, RTE indicators are hardly being followed." At the fourth
national stocktaking convention, where the report was released, he said
the trend is the same everywhere.

He added that they have released the report ahead of Lok Sabha elections
because inadequate facilities in schools have angered people. "They
want quality education high on agenda of the political parties," he
said.

Vithika Salomi, TNN | Aug 28, 2013, 01.46AM ISTPATNA: Bihar needs nearly twice the number of teachers currently in service to achieve the national
pupil teacher ratio (PTR) and the RTE (right to education) norm of
30:1. In fact, only 16% teachers at the panchayat level are trained.
Around 60,000 schools in the state do not have a permanent campus and
not even 3% of the school management committees (SMCs) are actively
involved in planning and development work.

According to a
survey on 'Implementation of RTE Act in Bihar', conducted in 375 schools
of Bihar by State Commission for Protection of Child Rights and UNICEF,
the education scenario of the state is not rosy. The survey further
reveals that student classroom ratio (SCR) across schools in Bihar was
82, much higher than the all India figure of 30:1. And, students'
attendance at schools stood at almost 63% only.

The survey
report was tabled on Tuesday in the presence of the state education
minister, P K Shahi, who admitted that education sector had a number of
shortcomings. But, according to him, several significant steps have been
taken by the government in the last two years for the implementation of
RTE. "Enrolment of girls in Bihar is higher than that of boys at
51.35%. Nearly 1.42 lakh additional classrooms are required and we have
built over 3,000 classrooms in the last four months. Continuous and
Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) scheme is implemented in nearly 83% of
the schools," said Shahi.

However, the
education department is likely to appoint nearly 95,000 teachers by
November and, thus, bring down the PTR that currently stands at 57:1.
"Since many prospective teachers have not cleared the TET, we are unable
to fill all the vacant posts. We are thinking about how to fill these
vacancies," said Amarjeet Sinha, principal secretary of the department.

In fact, in the wake of Saran midday meal tragedy, Sinha said separate
funds would be routed to SMCs for maintaining cleanliness of toilets and
kitchen sheds. The department has also devised a six-month enrichment
programme for training teachers who are in service. "The first batch of
34,000 teachers would soon get certification from NCTE and the second
batch of 66,000 teachers would start training under the programme from
September 5," he said.

The report adds that much is desired for
infrastructure development, training of teachers and devising suitable
pedagogy, constitution of SMCs, and creating a child-friendly
educational environment in the schools. Cleanliness of toilets and
kitchen sheds is also a central issue.

In fact, state project
director of Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC) Rahul Singh said, "If
the government is not giving affiliation to private schools for lack of
infrastructure, government schools should also be judged on the same
parameters, or else norms should be relaxed for private schools as
well."

Only 1,165 children in the state have never attended school,
according to Maharashtra government records. And while you may be
surprised by the paltry figure, officials from the state education
department are not.
Getting the children to schools is not the problem, they say. Keeping them there is.
The landmark Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009 has helped bring more
children to schools, but has not been able to control truancy and
dropout rates yet, experts believe.

“When our employees try to put children selling wares or begging
on the streets in schools, they show us certificates proving they have
already been enrolled in one,” said a senior education official from the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, which is the main vehicle for the
implementation of the RTE Act.
So, the children are students only on paper. The reality is that
after enrolling, they often remain absent from classes for long periods.
Family problems, including migration or pressure to earn a livelihood
are the main deterrents, and in the case of girls, dropping out after
puberty is common.
Activists said the government had failed to address the problems of
such students. “The government has many schemes for such children on
paper, but can’t implement them for lack of funds,” said Farida Lambay,
founder-director of Pratham, an NGO. Making matters worse,
government-run and municipal schools do not offer seamless education
even at the elementary level. While the RTE Act stipulates that
elementary education is from Class 1 to Class 8, most civic schools only
teach till Class 7.
“Many children do not bother to secure admission or end up not
attending another school after completing Class 7 as they cannot afford
to pay the fees or the schools are far away from their homes,” said Anil
Bornare, secretary of the Maharashtra State Teachers Association. To
solve this problem, the RTE Act stipulates the revision of the
elementary education cycle to bridge the gap. The government had
announced that they will reshuffle classrooms so that all schools teach
till Class 8. More than 82,000 schools were surveyed for this purpose in
2012, but no concrete steps have been taken yet. The latest GR issued
by the government has not made any changes in the elementary cycle.
Also, there are no strong mechanisms in place to monitor children’s
admission, attendance or whether they complete their elementary
education. “According to the [RTE] Act, teachers are supposed to keep an
eye on children who have been absent for a long time. They are supposed
meet the parents and ensure that the children are brought back to
school,” Bornare said. But teachers are bogged down with their teaching
duties and other work such as elections and census, leaving little time to monitor students, he added.

Free hostels could keep childrenin school

Mumbai: More free hostels could help bring down the dropout rate for children of migrant workers.While
there are 13 such hostels run by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan for
elementary schools in the state, Mumbai does not have a single one.Residential
schools in place are the Kasturba Gandhi Bal Vidyalayas (KGBV) for
girls belonging to economically and socially weaker sections studying in
the upper-primary level.
But hostels for children in elementary schools are the need of the hour.
“Migration affects the child’s education. The families cannot afford
to enroll the child in a school each time they migrate and even if they
do, there is no way to guarantee continuity in education. We need to
build many free residential hostels for these children,” said a senior
education official from the SSA, Mumbai division.
The official said the SSA had proposed building such hostels in the
city, but they were denied permission by the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC). “The BMC rejected the proposal citing lack of funds.
However, we are still in talks with the civic body over it,” the
official added.
Even the Right to Education Act (2009) does not cover boarding
schools or residential schools. “Such schools are out of the purview of
the act, so there is no pressure on the government to build them. They
are being completely neglected,” said Jayant Jain, president of the
Forum For Fairness in Education, a city not-for-profit that takes up
such causes.
Unfortunately, some of the hostels that do exist in Maharashtra are
in a pitiable state as allotted funds are being misused, claims Jain.
The forum had filed a PIL last year, alleging a Rs75-crore scam in the
temporary accommodation under the SSA scheme at Jawahar in Thane
district.
The NGO took up the matter when one of the respondents to the
petition, Kavita Pandhare, an extension officer in the department of
education, was appointed to investigate the issue.
“Pandhare had only two days to investigate and found out that there
were no schools in the addresses provided by SSA. In some places there
were buildings constructed for hostels, but no provisions inside the
buildings, and in one school there were only 12 students, all of whom
were bogus,” added Jain.
He said that the calculations proved that funds up to Rs75 crore
shown as spent on the project had been misappropriated by government
officials.

‘Why would kids want to go to such schools?’
Mumbai: More than 90% schools in the state do not have 10 basic
facilities listed as mandatory under the RTE Act, including separate
toilets for girls and boys, safe drinking water and playgrounds.
In fact, many schools in the state do not even have five of the ten provisions, a report by Unicef pointed out.
The Right to Education Act (2009) stipulates that all schools have to
be equipped with at least 10 facilities given in its schedule by 2013.
These include basic facilities, infrastructure and pupil-teacher ratios.
Schools have been given an extension till October to get these in order
or they will be derecognised.
The story is no better in Mumbai, where 1,600 out of 1,703 schools
have not fulfilled norms such as infrastructure facilities, principals’
rooms, toilets, drinking water, playgrounds and kitchen sheds.
According to the latest Unified District Information System for
Education (U-DISE), only 54.33% primary schools in the state have an
electricity connection, and only 44.51% of all schools have computers,
while only 13.91% have computer-aided learning facilitiesThe question experts are asking is: Why would students come to such abysmal schools?
“Looking at some of the civic schools makes you feel like they are
still in the 18th century. Just offering mid-day meals is not going to
attract a child to school,” said Prashant Redij, president of the State
Principals’ Association, Mumbai chapter.
Farida , founder-director of Pratham, said that schools continue to
be in such a state even three years since the RTE was implemented
because school management committees (SMCs) are not functioning
properly. Such committees should comprise parents and teachers and
produce child-friendly school development plans.
But only 5.19% government schools have constituted SMCs, states the U-DISE report.
The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA), which is the main vehicle for
implementing the RTE, has conducted training programmes to train SMCs.
“It is a challenge to explain the scope of the SMC to parents of civic
and government school children as they are not educated,’’ said a senior
official from the SSA, requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to
talk to the media.
However, large-scale training programmes are being conducted to
sensitise parents , where they are told how they can improve the school
so that their children can also get access to better quality education,
the official added.

The BMC school at Rafiq Nagar stands testimony to the blatant
non-compliance of schools with the 2009 Right to Education (RTE) Act,
which provides for 25% reservation in all government-aided and specified
schools as well as private schools for ‘ disadvantaged’ students from
around the school’s neighbourhood.

After much convincing from NGOs, when parents from the slums of
Rafiq Nagar line up at the BMC school for admissions, they return
disappointed. Many parents, though illiterate, are often accompanied by
NGO representatives or some educated person from the area, reminding the
school of its obligation to give their children admission in accordance
with the RTE Act, to which school authorities often turn a deaf ear.
“We have been taking children from our school, after training them
with basic language and math, to enrol in BMC schools, but the
administration always turns us down, stating reasons like ‘full
classrooms’ or ‘ child won’t be able to cope up with studies’, etc,”
said Fr Paul, director, Karunya trust, an NGO that runs ‘Gyaansathi’ an
informal school.

Shashi Joshi, principal, Rafiq Nagar BMC School, argued that the
children from the dump yard brought in by NGOs have never received a
formal education and often create a ruckus in school, owing to their
‘upbringing’. “We have no problem admitting these kids to our school.
But, as they have no knowledge of basics, it becomes embarrassing for us
during inspection time. They make the school look bad,” said Joshi.
In addition to denying admission, the formation of the mandatory
school management committee (SMC) too is incomplete. Under the RTE Act,
all public schools have to form a management committee with
representation from parents, teachers and activists from NGOs, and work
just the way Parent-Teacher Associations do in private schools. It has
the responsibility of looking over education and quality of hygiene,
attendance of teachers, stationery distribution etc.
“We have been trying to get the school to register educated parents from the slums as candidates for SMC elections. But nothing has been done,” said Rose Joseph, project manager, Karunya Trust.
The 25% reservation rule was implemented for government-aided private
schools as well. However, Jafri School, one of the largest private
schools in Shivaji Nagar, has persistently denied admission to children
living in slums. “People who come for admissions do so in the middle of
the year. A certain protocol needs to be followed. We can’t break this,”
said Ajex Verghese, principal.

The Jindal Commission on Monday concluded the task of recording
the evidence of all three suspended officials in the book scam case,
with the submission of suspended district education officer (DEO) Vinod
Kumar, who admitted to having tendered the supply of library books to
the Mansa firm in question.The very tendering procedure had come under the scanner of a
central team that visited the state to look into the matter as the funds
used to pay for the books were the central grants under the Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
The suspended DEO appeared before the commission on Monday and signed
his statement, stating that education minister Sikander Singh Maluka
had formed the three-member committee for purchases in the education
department. He also explained the award of the tender to the Mansa-based
firm, Friends Enterprise.

The education minister had significantly stated earlier that he
had not formed the committee to make purchases but to monitor and keep
the purchases in check.
The one-man Commission of Inquiry headed by retired district and
sessions judge AN Jindal is yet to summon the minister and the principal
secretary, school education, who had suspended the three officials
after a separate departmental inquiry.
Vinod, along with other committee members, director public
instructions (DPI) elementary education Pritpal Kaur and Punjab School
Education Board finance officer Gurtej Singh, was suspended after the HT
exposed the scam in which the Mansa firm was handpicked under the garb
of a faulty tendering procedure that flouted all norms.
The said firm had got its certification changed form a pipes
manufacturing company to a publishing firm from the excise and taxation
department to come clean as a deserving firm for the tender to supply
books.
The tender invitation had a major fault in the name of 'maximum
discount' on the MRP mentioned on the books. However, the rates were
decided after the selection of the said firm as the MRP on books was
already escalated.
Another lacuna in the tendering was that the third firm applying for
the award had offered "zero per cent" discount. There had to be at least
three firms for the tendering procedure. Friends Enterprise had offered
15% and the second one mentioned 14%.
Gurtej Singh, whose suspension has been revoked, had stated in his
evidence that he had no role to play in calling the tenders and that he
was not even a signatory in the award of the tender to the Mansa firm.
Pritpal Kaur had also recorded her evidence before the Jindal panel
two weeks ago, stating that she was part of the purchase committee.
The HT had run a series on the scam that how the three-member
committee had faltered while inviting the tenders for the library books
as well as the science lab kits, and on the misuse of the central grants
under the SSA in May 2012.

- See more at: http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=43531#sthash.Ie1p8LE3.dpuf

Report by Akshya Rout, Jajpur: In the latest
caste-bound controversy in Odisha's Jajpur district, over a dozen of
dalit students left a government-run upper primary school for good while
registering their protest against the removal of dalit cook by the
school management.

There were in total 14 Dalit students of Gahirapala project Upper
Primary school in village Gahirapala under Dasarathapur block and all of
them under parental guidance availed school leaving certificate.

The school authorities had removed a dalit cook Janaki Jena from
the school, triggering discontentment amongst the dalit students and
parents. The dalit cook was replaced by a cook from the upper caste.

The head master and other teachers of the school segregated the
upper caste and dalit students into two groups to provide mid-day meal
in two rows for which many guardians of Dalit children protested against
the caste discrimination of the teachers for which they abused many
Dalit students and their parents, alleged a local, Narahari Jena.

"Three teachers had been misbehaving us on caste ground. They also
segregated us from other upper caste students. Majority of the teachers
never touch us and always brand us as 'untouchability', said Barsa Jena
(11) a 5th class student of the school.

Hrusikesh Jena a guardian of a student also stated that the
teachers of the school often abuse dalit students for which many dalit
students were not going to the school .

Dalit children were also singled out in school and forced to sweep
and mop classrooms and clean bathrooms. Bijaya Jena studies in Class IV .
When asked about untouchability in school, he explains: "Ame Achuta (we
are considered 'untouchable'), we are not allowed to take water from
the drinking water from pot in the school. If we touch two teachers by
mistake. They think we pollute them".

"The teachers don't want to handle our homework books so they are
never corrected. I clean urinals and toilets", said Jena. "I clean
toilets in school," said Samir Jena a bright lad studying in Class V.
"Why do you do it?" when he was asked on Monday. He looks puzzled. To
him it's a stupid question. Because the teacher tells me to do it."

When contacted , Laxman Murmu the headmaster of the school said "
We have been told that 14 Dalit students have left the school and have
taking SLCs. I have directed the School Inspector and Welfare Extension
Officer (WEO) to conduct an inquiry about the matter. After getting the
report , the authority will take proper action against the culprits".

Laxmidhar Das the district inspector (DI) of school said “the dalit
cook was removed as the upper caste students skipped the mid day meal.

Thus we were forced to engage a cook from the upper caste with
consultation with school management committee. I visited the school and
talked to the dalit parents. We have called upon the dalit parents to
send back their wards to the school”.

Expressing concern over the continuation of age old practice of
untouchablities, Prafulla Nayak a human right activist and the president
of Pragati a social organization said that it was unfortunate that
still the practice was prevailing in the villages. He was shocked over
the children talking about discrimination of some particular castes.

- See more at: http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=43531#sthash.Ie1p8LE3.dpuf

Report by Akshya Rout, Jajpur: In the latest
caste-bound controversy in Odisha's Jajpur district, over a dozen of
dalit students left a government-run upper primary school for good while
registering their protest against the removal of dalit cook by the
school management.

There were in total 14 Dalit students of Gahirapala project Upper
Primary school in village Gahirapala under Dasarathapur block and all of
them under parental guidance availed school leaving certificate.

The school authorities had removed a dalit cook Janaki Jena from
the school, triggering discontentment amongst the dalit students and
parents. The dalit cook was replaced by a cook from the upper caste.

The head master and other teachers of the school segregated the
upper caste and dalit students into two groups to provide mid-day meal
in two rows for which many guardians of Dalit children protested against
the caste discrimination of the teachers for which they abused many
Dalit students and their parents, alleged a local, Narahari Jena.

"Three teachers had been misbehaving us on caste ground. They also
segregated us from other upper caste students. Majority of the teachers
never touch us and always brand us as 'untouchability', said Barsa Jena
(11) a 5th class student of the school.

Hrusikesh Jena a guardian of a student also stated that the
teachers of the school often abuse dalit students for which many dalit
students were not going to the school .

Dalit children were also singled out in school and forced to sweep
and mop classrooms and clean bathrooms. Bijaya Jena studies in Class IV .
When asked about untouchability in school, he explains: "Ame Achuta (we
are considered 'untouchable'), we are not allowed to take water from
the drinking water from pot in the school. If we touch two teachers by
mistake. They think we pollute them".

"The teachers don't want to handle our homework books so they are
never corrected. I clean urinals and toilets", said Jena. "I clean
toilets in school," said Samir Jena a bright lad studying in Class V.
"Why do you do it?" when he was asked on Monday. He looks puzzled. To
him it's a stupid question. Because the teacher tells me to do it."

When contacted , Laxman Murmu the headmaster of the school said "
We have been told that 14 Dalit students have left the school and have
taking SLCs. I have directed the School Inspector and Welfare Extension
Officer (WEO) to conduct an inquiry about the matter. After getting the
report , the authority will take proper action against the culprits".

Laxmidhar Das the district inspector (DI) of school said “the dalit
cook was removed as the upper caste students skipped the mid day meal.

Thus we were forced to engage a cook from the upper caste with
consultation with school management committee. I visited the school and
talked to the dalit parents. We have called upon the dalit parents to
send back their wards to the school”.

Expressing concern over the continuation of age old practice of
untouchablities, Prafulla Nayak a human right activist and the president
of Pragati a social organization said that it was unfortunate that
still the practice was prevailing in the villages. He was shocked over
the children talking about discrimination of some particular castes.

- See more at: http://www.orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=43531#sthash.Ie1p8LE3.dpuf

The Education Department has made its first concrete attempt to rope
in Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) bodies to ensure effective
implementation and grievance redressal of the Right to Education (RTE)
Act, more than a year after it was implemented here.
A proposal in
this regard has been presented to the State government to identify
Standing Committees for Education and Health of Zilla Panchayat as the
local authority at the district level for various sections of the RTE
Act and their corresponding duties.
The Taluk Panchayat (TP) Social Justice Committee has been identified at the taluk level for the same.
Till
now, the implementation of the RTE rested with officials of the
Education Department, such as Block Education Officers (BEOs), Deputy
Directors of Public Instruction (DDPIs) and the School Development and
Monitoring Committees (SDMCs).
“There was confusion about the
definition and jurisdiction of the local authority under the RTE Act.
These committees will also receive complaints and address grievances as
per Section 32 of the RTE Act,” said Subodh Yadav, State Project
Director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.
According to the proposal, the
Zilla Panchayat Standing Committees on Education and Health will be
responsible for providing free and compulsory elementary education to
every child, ensuring availability of neighbourhood schools and
non-discrimination of children from weaker sections. The Committees will
also monitor admissions, attendance and completion of education,
provision of infrastructure and free transportation to children where
no school exists and assure quality at the district level.
The
only local authority identified at the Gram Panchayat level is the Civic
Amenity Committee, which is supposed to maintain records of children up
to the age of 14, ensure admission of migrant children and monitor
functioning of schools in villages.
“The time frame for grievance
redressal and administrative modalities required to support these
committees to accept these responsibilities will require association
with the RDPR Department at the government level,” Yadav said.
He added that the members of the Committees would also require training on Right to Education Act.
‘Lesson Learnt’
An
official from the RDPR Secretariat pointed out that education is one of
the 29 subjects handled by the Zilla Panchayat bodies.
“This is
the first time we will be approached to specifically include RTE. We are
very interested in this proposal,” the official said.
Many
programmes of the Union government, such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and
National Rural Health Mission, are implemented through a parallel
structure headed by Deputy Commissioners (DCs).
“Perhaps, this is a
lesson learnt. There is a need to involve these bodies in matters such
as education. Over the last few years, many responsibilities have been
taken away from the Standing Committees only to be implemented through
the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs),” the official added.

GUWAHATI: Assam Government in pursuance of Human Resource Development Guideline under Section 35 (1) of Right to Education ( RTE) Act, 2009 regarding the implementation of provisions of Section 27 and Election Commission of India's letter, has notified guidelines in connection with engaging teachers in Election related duties.
As per the notification, wherever teaching staff is put on duties of roll revision, the DEOs or EROs
will prescribe holidays and non-teaching days and non-teaching hours as
duty period for this work. Such appointees may be asked to avoid
teaching days and teaching hours for undertaking the roll revision work.
During roll revision, wherever the teachers are appointed as designated
officers to make various forms such as Form 6, 7 etc. available to the
voters and to receive the Forms from voters, the DEOs or EROs will
prescribe a specific time during non-teaching hours for the purpose of
providing and receiving such Forms. Preferably minimum one hour time
immediately after the closure of teaching hours can be earmarked for the
purpose. Depending on the prevailing teaching hours, the DEOs or EROs
will issue specific instruction and bring the same to the knowledge of
all political parties and to the public well in advance.

Again, wherever special campaign dates are prescribed during the
revision period, such campaign will invariably be held on holidays only.
Besides, when an intensive revision is to be ordered, the schedule for
revision will be devised keeping the availability of holidays in mind.
If the door-to-door verification has to be done on teaching days, such
verification may be asked to be done after teaching hours and on
holidays.
It may also be mentioned that whenever the teachers are
used as Booth Level Officers for the purpose of door-to-door
verification, for finding out cases of photo mismatches in photo roll
etc., the same exercise will be done during non-teaching hours and on
holidays.
Furthermore, whenever needed, the period of enumeration
work may be extended for this purpose so that the enumeration work is
carried out without hampering the teaching hours.

‘3-year stay in Delhi must for EWS benefit’

NEW
DELHI: Citing the "general tendency" of migrants to keep shifting from
one city to another, the Delhi government has defended its criteria
insisting on minimum three years residence in the city for them to avail
EWS quota in private schools.

In an affidavit filed in the Delhi high court,
the department of education has said the condition of continuous three
years residency is imposed to ensure that the benefit of free ship in
schools is received by children who are permanently residing in the
state and can "fruitfully reap the benefits provided in the RTE Act in a
private school."

Directorate of education (DoE) has argued the
demand of three years residence proof from the poor, to permit them to
avail of EWS free ship in private schools, doesn't cause hardship to
migrants as government schools are in any case providing them
unconditional admission. "Continuous residency for three years will
ensure the applicant settles in Delhi permanently so that the child
imbibes the education and values, and there is optimum utilization of
the quota," the affidavit says explaining the three year proof clause in
the DoE circular.

The affidavit came in response to an HC query
on the validity of the circular that excludes migrant children from
availing quota facility under the economically weaker section (EWS)
category. The court is hearing a petition filed by a street vendor
seeking EWS benefits for her five-year-old child in a private unaided
school and assailing the circular on the ground that it violates his
fundamental rights.

SDMC to hire agency to grade schools, those with low-grades to go for adoption

25 August 2013, New Delhi, Siddheshwar Shukla

The
corporation has also prepared a draft policy for ‘school adoption
scheme’ which has been circulated among the members of the education
committee for suggestions.

South
Delhi Municipal Corporation is going to hire either a company or expert
body to grade its primary schools in terms of infrastructure, faculty
and other facilities. The schools that get low grades would be put for
adoption scheme.

‘A
private body is being engaged for grading of the schools. We will soon
float tenders to hire an expert agency for grading,’ said Satish
Upadhayay, chairman of the SDMC education committee. The
decision was taken in the meeting of the education committee on Friday
in which director education of SDMC, Sushil Kumar asked the concerned
officers to appoint the agency within a month’s time.

‘Some
of our schools are equipped with required facilities and adequate
teachers are posted there while some others lack basic facilities,’
added Upadhayay. It was also proposed that schools having low number of students should be preferred for the adoption scheme.

The
corporation has also prepared a draft policy for ‘school adoption
scheme’ which has been circulated among the members of the education
committee for suggestions. ‘The draft proposal has also been sent to
leader of opposition, a Congress councillor and interested NGOs for
further improvement,’ Upadhayay added.

The
corporation aims to launch the scheme in the next two to three months
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) arms of several reputed groups
such as Bharti Airtel, SRF Foundation, Azim Premji Foundation, Tech
Mahindra Foundation, Akanksha Foundation, ARK Foundation and Modern
School group have already shown interest in the scheme.

The
corporation has also decided to hand over around 50 odd schools to some
eminent sports groups on public-private partnership (PPP) basis. Under
the scheme, these private parters would provide free training to
students of SDMC schools apart from maintain play grounds. They will,
however, be allowed to charge outsiders to recover their expenses.

The state government is planning to shut down schools having less than
20 students. The move seeks to curb the “wastage of money”, besides
consolidating the huge education infrastructure.
An official affiliated with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan said, “The
school education department has identified over 13,700 such schools,
including private and unaided institutions in the state, under the
District Information System of Education Survey 2012. Of these, 3,779
schools have less than 10 students.”
On Tuesday, the department directed the municipal commissioners and
CEOs of zilla parishads to find out if students studying in these
schools can be shifted to other schools in the area as prescribed under
the RTE Act. “The teachers, too, would be accommodated in other schools
to maintain the teacher-student ratio,” said an official.
While a large number of these schools are in smaller cities and rural areas, those in Mumbai, too, are in the list.
A BMC official said, “We have been given a list of 26 schools with
less than 20 students. The government has asked us to evaluate if
students of these schools can be shifted to other schools. If schools
are not available in the vicinity (as per the 1-km and 3-km norms for
primary and secondary schools respectively), we have been asked to
disburse transportation allowance to the kids.”
According to sources, these are mainly vernacular schools, some of
which are being run due to the pressure of local corporators.

AURANGABAD:
For the first time since the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was launched
in 2003, Aurangabad district had the best results on two of the four
indicators on quality of schooling as per the Educational Development
Index (EDI) report 2012-13 released recently.

District
education officers said Aurangabad was ranked first in terms of outcome
index and second in terms of the overall EDI in the state.

The ministry of human resource development, Government of India, and the national
university of educational planning and administration, New Delhi,
initiated an effort to compute EDI in 2005-06. A set of 29 indicators
were identified for evaluating EDI after the methodology was revised in
2009.

"The purpose of EDI is to summarize
various aspects related to input, process and outcomes of various
indicators and to identify geographical areas that lag behind in
educational development," primary education officer Nitin Upasani at the
zilla parishad said.

These indicators have been grouped under
four categories namely, access, infrastructure, teacher and outcome. A
separate index has been calculated for each of the four categories and
EDI is an overall index of all these four indices.

He has written
to ministries seeking across-the-board changes from award to monitoring
of projects, while asking govt agencies to check malfeasance

Submitted on Fri, 08/30/2013 - 14:22

NEW DELHI: Planning Commission
Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, seen as the strongest proponent
of public private partnership (PPP) projects, has admitted to "problems"
but ruled out scrapping the model . Instead, he has started discussions
on how the mechanism can be made to work better amid strong public
criticism, which he acknowledges can be "legitimate".

Mr. Ahluwalia has written to ministries seeking across-the-board
changes from award to monitoring of projects, while listing out several
projects where developers have gained. From the consumer point of view,
the biggest change is to be ushered in on the monitoring side as the
plan panel has finally recognised that developers of roads and airports
and those setting up power plants often fall short of service standards.

"In most cases the user charges are levied and recovered by force
of law and since payment thereof is involuntary, users expect the
government to ensure the promised level of service... Since the
concessionaire is primarily guided by profit motive, he may try to save
his costs and expense by cutting corners and shortchanging the users," a
note circulated by Mr. Ahuluwalia said, while asking government
agencies to step up monitoring to avoid charges of collusion. The
document said while malfeasance in traditional contracts can be detected
fairly early, it could take long to surface in PPP projects, but the
consequences are far more significant.

Report by India Education bureau, New Delhi: The
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009
mandates eight years of elementary education to all children in the 6 to
14 years age group. While supply side provisioning is being done by the
Government, at the same time creation of demand in a rights based
perspective is also of utmost importance. Different media tools have
been used in this regard and the RTE Anthem is an attempt to do it in a
joyful and child friendly manner, wherein children will imbibe the RTE
message from popular public figures in a creative melody.

National
Film Development Corporation (NFDC) supported the Ministry in creating
the Anthem, which has been written by renowned lyricist Shri Javed
Akhtar and sung by Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan. The video of the
Anthem features children from different part of the country and reflects
the pan-India essence of RTE. The Anthem depicts child-centered
principles and entitlements and has been shot in government schools.

The
anthem will be dubbed in English and 15 regional languages (Assamese,
Bengali, Bhojpuri, Dogri, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam,
Manipuri, Marathi, Naga, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu) to generate
constructive awareness among the community and stakeholders for the
implementation of RTE.

The melodious RTE
Anthem was launched by Union Minister for HRD Dr. M.M. Pallam Raju, in
the presence of MoS HRD, Dr. Shashi Tharoor and also the lyricist and MP
Shri Javed Akhtar. The Minister reiterated the Government’s commitment
to the RTE Act at the launch function. The function was attended by
school children and also featured performances by students of Bal
Bhawan.

TNN | Aug 30, 2013, 04.03AM ISTBANGALORE: Non-compliance with the norms of the Right to Education Act could result in 72 schools in Karnataka
losing government recognition. In a circular, the education department
said 26 schools from Bangalore and 72 across the state will be derecognized.

Mysore district has 21 errant schools, the highest in the state,
followed by Bangalore South with 15 and Bangalore North with 11. Of the
72 schools, 43 have violated the 25% reservation quota, 10 have gone to
the court against the Act and 22 haven't implemented the Act for other
reasons.

Incidentally, 1,849 schools in Karnataka haven't received any
application under RTE. Of these, 217 are in Bangalore South and 130 in
Bangalore North. The department also found that 198 schools lack basic
amenities, 799 don't meet quality standards and 852 have neither basic
amenities nor quality.

"The district-level education authority
set up under the RTE also acts as grievance reddressal authority and can
take legal action against these schools. The schools can be
derecognized after taking a final order from this authority. If schools
continue to function after recognition is withdrawn, other action will
be taken against them," said the circular.

As many as 1,849 unaided schools in the state are staring at the
prospect of losing recognition as the state government is taking them to
task for not implementing provisions of the Right to Education (RTE)
Act this year.
These schools, according to a circular issued by
the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), did not receive applications
from parents seeking seats under the 25 per cent quota for
disadvantaged children. Commissioner for Public Instruction, Mohammad
Mohsin, told Express that notices have been issued to schools as per
Section 18 of the RTE Act, before withdrawal of recognition.
“As
per the Act, we have to take action against schools that have not
implemented the RTE. When the government is allocating so much funds,
schools are naturally obliged to comply,” Mohsin said.
The
Department has identified 43 schools in the state that have violated
provisions under Section 12(1)(c) that deals with the 25 per cent quota.
Another 10 schools in the state have not implemented the RTE as they
have moved court and 22 others for ‘other’ reasons. “Legal action should
be taken against the 43 schools through district-level education
regulation authorities. Steps will be taken to strengthen our case
against schools in the court. Action will be taken against 22 schools
after identifying the exact reasons,” the circular stated.
Based
on the information provided by Deputy Directors of Public Instruction
(DDPI), of the 1,849 schools, 198 were found lacking basic
infrastructure, 799 were found not providing quality education and 852
schools did not have both. This includes 352 unaided schools identified
in Bangalore (North, South and Rural).
K Padmavati, the DDPI of
Bangalore South, which has 217 schools facing derecognition, said action
will first be taken against 15 schools for rejecting RTE applications.
When asked about the fate of children already enrolled, she said, “If
these schools are shut down, we will ensure that children are
accommodated in nearby schools.”
According to the circular, the
recognition of schools that fail to fulfill the norms as prescribed will
be withdrawn as per Section 19 of the RTE Act, along with the
prescribed penalty under Section 18, which is a fine of `1 lakh.

The State government has identified 1,924
unaided primary schools (irrespective of their affiliation to any board
and excluding minority institutions) which have allegedly failed to
provide 25 per cent seats to students from economically weaker sections
under the Right To Education (RTE) Act this academic year.

In
a circular on August 26,2013, A Deva Prakash, Director, Public
Instruction (Primary), said the deputy directors of public instruction
(DDPIs) had categorised erring schools into two: those which have not
admitted students at all under the 25-per cent quota under Section 12
(1) (c) of the RTE Act, and others which rejected RTE applications.

43 schools violated

In the first category, it
was found that 43 schools violated the said clause, 10 have moved the
court against the RTE Act and 22 others did not implement the
legislation for various reasons.

In the second category, the
department identified 1,849 schools which have not accepted RTE
applications at all. Of them, 198 schools were found to be lacking
infrastructure, 799 did not provide quality education and 852 others
faced both the problems.

Meantime, the District-Level Education
Regulation Authority (which redresses grievances under the RTE Act in
the State) will have to look into the following:

In case of
schools which have approached the court (under the first category), DPI
officials have been asked to collect details of the court proceedings
and update the department.

Schools which have not admitted
children have been asked to explain their failure to comply with the Act
and accordingly correct them.

Meanwhile, inspectors will be appointed to check whether schools meet all requirements under the RTE Act.

Once the authority gets the final report, schools found guilty of violations will lose recognition.

If schools are found to be running without recognition, appropriate action will be taken against them.

Shreya Bhandary, TNN | Aug 31, 2013, 02.25AM ISTMUMBAI:
The Right to Education (RTE) Act states that every child between the
age group of 6-14 years of age should be enrolled in a school. While the
state and the Mumbai education department is striving to ensure this, a
recent query by an activist under the Right to Information (RTI) Act
reveals that about 83 posts in various branches of the education
department are lying vacant.

"Everybody is talking about
implementing RTE for the benefit of the students, but with so many posts
lying vacant in the Mumbai education department, how are the officials
planning to tackle the problem," said Chetan Pednekar, vice-president of
Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthi Sena (MNVS).

"The officials
are supposed to conduct regular inspections of schools and also ensure
that schools aren't defaulting in implementation of the Act. But with
the strength of officials much lower than required, there's a
possibility that RTE is not being implemented well in the city," a
shocked Pednekar said.

According to the
data provided under the RTI, a total 83 posts are vacant in the north,
west, south zone education office as well as the office of deputy
director of education. These officers are from different grades and
branches in Mumbai.

When TOI contacted the deputy director of
education, he stated that some of the vacant posts have been filled at
present. "Even the post of a clerk is filled by the Maharashtra Public
Service Commission (MPSC) and applicants have to give an exam and pass,
following which they are placed in different departments. As and when we
are informed that a particular post is empty, we immediately inform the
authority to sanction more officers," said N B Chavan, deputy director
of school education. He also added that with officers at senior levels
being transferred to education departments across the state, it becomes
difficult to fill up the posts immediately. "But this has never affected
our work and we ensure that the responsibility is shared aptly so that
there are no loopholes," added Chavan.

In the letter, Singh said that despite existing policies and
institutions for implementation of child rights, the effective
implementation of the legal and policy commitment, however, is still a
challenge.

"Childrens' right to free and compulsory education, protection
of children from sexual offences, elimination of child labour,
prevention of child marriages are certain areas of concern which needs
to be addressed," she said.

She also mentioned that providing protection to children of
migrant workers, combating the skewed sex ratio and eliminating
infanticide and female foeticide etc, are other areas which need focus and attention.

The NCPCR chairperson rued that a similar letter sent to all
political parties by the panel before the Assembly polls that took place
in many states between November and December last year had been
ignored.

"I had addressed a letter to you on October 21, 2013, when
Assembly election were to take place, with the request that your party
should include the implementation of the rights of the children in the
party's election manifesto.

"It is regretted that no reply to the above letter was received by the Commission," she said.

The 12th Five-Year Plan documents underline that although the number
of elementary schools has increased to 1.3 million, many schools lack
the basic infrastructure facilities required under the Right to
Education Act. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: Despite several recommendations by Congress president Sonia Gandhi-led
National Advisory Council (NAC) to improve Right to Education (RTE)
outcomes, the human resource development (HRD) ministry seems to be
going slow on it, citing lack of money.

The RTE Act, which came into force on 1 April 2010,
mandates schooling for children in the 6-14 year age group. However, the
NAC has pointed to the need for an institutional audit of the RTE’s
implementation, seeking a review of enrolment, education infrastructure,
vacant teachers’ posts, and training of teachers.

The HRD ministry on Friday gave a presentation to the NAC
on the action it has taken on its recommendations. But the council
seems to be dissatisfied with the progress and has asked the ministry to
come back to it with more details and specific plans, two officials
familiar with the development said.

“The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and RTE budget that the
government is giving us is at least 40% less than what we require, that
too at a time when states have been demanding more financial support,”
said an HRD ministry official, requesting anonymity.

The SSA is the main implementing vehicle for the RTE Act. In the 2013-14 budget the Union government allocated Rs.27,258 crore for implementing the RTE, compared with Rs.25,555 crore the year before.

The HRD ministry says it needs more than Rs.42,000 crore every year to smoothly operate the flagship programme.

“The NAC recommendations are good and can improve the
outcome of the Act, but at the current junction, we have to be realistic
about what can be done and cannot be,” the official quoted above said.

The council, in recommendations made on 10 January,
suggested forming an inter-ministerial coordination system involving
three ministries—HRD, women and child development, and panchayati
raj—for better implementation of the RTE Act and an institutional audit
of 1.3 million schools to monitor, address grievances, and bring
accountability to the system.

“The auditing of more than 1.3 million schools as
suggested by the NAC is time-consuming as well as resource-heavy. The
ministry does not have that much of finance to do it from the word go,”
the ministry official said.

In its presentation, the HRD talked about the progress
made on the NAC’s recommendations. “The presentation highlighted the
achievements made in respect of improving access, equity and quality in
school education through SSA. It highlighted the decline in dropout
rates, enhanced enrolment of girls, SC (scheduled caste), STs (scheduled
tribe) and minorities,” a release by the council said.

But “the HRD’s presentation in the meeting did not have
any specifics on which of our recommendations were being accepted or
rejected. So, we have requested them to appraise in a more detailed
manner,” a council member, who attended the meeting and did not want to
be named, said.

The HRD ministry official quoted earlier said the
ministry is in favour of interministerial coordination for better
implementation and added it has held a few rounds of interactions with
four other ministries for RTE and mid-day meal schemes.

The 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) documents also
underline that although “the number of elementary schools has increased
to 13.04 lakh (1.3 million), many schools lack the basic infrastructure
facilities required under the RTE Act. For example, the retention of
girls in schools remains difficult given that over 63% of rural schools
have no usable toilet facilities for them.”

In its recommendations, the NAC also suggested ending
discrimination in schools, including preparing teachers to handle such
issues, and budgetary provisions to promote equity and inclusion. The
RTE reserves 25% of seats for underprivileged students living in the
vicinity of schools.

Parth J. Shah,
president of the Centre for Civil Society (CCS), a non-profit group
working in education, said RTE has made huge progress in bringing more
students to the classroom but there’s a need to focus on quality.
“Unless, you focus on quality, the education outcome will remain
questionable,” he said.

He also said that while 25% reservation for
underprivileged students in private schools is important, the government
cannot ignore the realities of state-run schools. Several organizations
including CCS and the Central Square Foundation, a philanthropic
venture capital fund, launched an RTE portal on Thursday to track the
implementation of the Act.